The effect of sediment deposition on gastropod fecal content

The anthropogenic deposition of sediment on previously undisturbed areas has a profound effect on species diversity and density. This is particularly true in the remarkably clear and productive Lake Tanganyika. The effects of sediment in Lake Tanganyika have been seen for fish, molluscs and ostracods (Alin et al. 1999; Cohen 1993). The Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project identified excess sedimentation of the littoral habitat as “a severe threat “to the diversity of Tanganyikan mollusks (Patterson & Mankin 1998). In addition to their ecological importance, the Tanganyikan gastropods have extrinsic value as models for coevolution and sympatritic speciation.